Wind musical instrument



J. SOMERVILLE WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Flled July 23, 1947 Jan. 2, 1951 Patented Jan. 2, 1951 WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT James Somerville, Manchester, England Application July 23, 1947, Serial No. 763,066 In Great Britain September 29, 1945 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires September 29, 1965 20 Claims.

This invention relates to wind musical instruments, which term includes those instruments classified as the woodwind and brass" families, and more particularly, saxophones and like instruments having a tubular body with tone holes therein, provided with valves, tampions or caps, these last being fitted with sealing means 130 .fit the respective tone holes so that a vibrating air column in the tubular body can be varied in length by the closing and opening of the respective tone holes, under the manipulation of the players fingers.

In the usual forms of such instruments as saxophones, the tone holes are of a round-socket construction, flanged or ridged, by having their walls drawn from or soldered to the round body of the instrument, the outer edges of the walls presenting fiat rings or rims which are sealed by contact with the sealing means on the tampions. It is also known to provide round annular pads or other resilient members around such raised tone hole rims, the valves in that case being suitably shaped to engage such annular members instead of a pad engaging the actual edge of the tone-hole rim.

All these known arrangements introduce difficulty in aligning and setting all the parts of the finger-operated mechanism so as to have the various tone-holes properly sealed in an airtight manner. This requirement for air-tight sealing necessitates the individual adjustment and re-fitting of each valve and its mechanism, and the setting of each pad separately, to ensure proper seating. Y

These known methods of construction made it necessary to remove the tampions and keys from the instrument for the fitting of new pads, the pads being fitted individually to the several keys, and when fitted engaging the respective holes separately. When this difficult task was accomplished, the whole action had then to be re-set, re-corked and aligned, the pads each creased and set in position and the whole instrument readjusted. This was beyond the powers of most amateurs and even of many professional players, and indeed few repairers could offer a perfectly padded and adjusted instrument, and those only after several days and sometimes weeks delay. The present invention makes it possible for anyone to make a perfect re-pad job without loss of use of the instrument, as well as greatly simplifying the initial manufacture of the instrument.

The present invention has for its main object to, provide improved means for ensuring airtight and evenly-aligned resilient yieldable means between the valv:s and the body of the instrument, and also to facilitate the refitting of this airtight means without recourse to the usual individual readjustment of the valves and their associated mechanism; and at the same time to simplify the manufacture, fitting and maintenance of such instruments.

According to the invention, the tone holes are formed (singly or in groups) in a resilient material (e. g. rubber or rubber composition, felt or the like) which may be supported or unsupported at the edges of the tone-hole apertures, which resilient material is faced on one or both sides with a more rigid sealing material, e. g. a thin leather or skin, and is backed and/or faced with a rigid supporting material. Only sufiicient of the sealing material is left exposed to make a good contact with the valves, and with the other parts with which an air-tight seal is required, to make the instrument airtight. In one construction, the valves are formed so as slightly to enter or to seat around the tone holes and bear on the edges thereof. When the resilient material is unsupported at the edges of the tone holes, any inequalities of contact between the valve and the edge of the hole result merely in a slight deformation of the resilient material until there is uniform airtight contact with the valve around the hole.

The resilient material may be in separate pieces for respective holes or groups of holes, but it is preferably in strip form to cover two or more holes like a gasket with at least one rigid outer lamination and a resilient inner lamination, and may have that outer lamination which is on the opposite side to the valves, projecting into or round the holes so that it defines the holes and prevents distortion of the aperture, as well as keeping out moisture, and also preserving the shape or flatness and even plane of the valve face.

In this form the gasket may be incorporated into the detachable mechanisms and constructions according to my co-pending United States application for patent Serial No. 764,674. filed July 30., 1947, and application corresponding to British application 26,676/45.

As the upper or outer parts of the gasket receive most wear and are most subject to moisture they may be made renewable in sections. The gasket may be double-sided to suit the constructions of tuning slide in my co-pending United States application for patent Serial No.

, walls 3, l.

3 763,065, filed July 23, 1947, or the tuning slide may be sandwiched between two gaskets.

In another form, the gasket and the finger operated mechanism for playing the instrument are mounted as a unit upon plates which allow the whole to be raised (increasing the enclosed Volume of the instrument) or lowered (decreasing the enclosed volume of the instrument) in an airtight manner. For sealing the gasket any type of deforr ation may be adoizted.

According to another feature of the invention, the inner wall or edge of the tone hole in the gasket is itself bound or lined with a more rigid material e. g. a thin sheet metal, to give a more certain size to the hole and to reinforce the gasket against undue warping. In any case the gaskets may be of a reversible kind, so that they could be removed from the instrument, reversed and replaced to provide a new valve seating when the centre of the gasket corresponds to a central disposition of tone holes.

Examples of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a sectional perspective v ew or" one form of gasket according to the invention, for use for example on a saxophone;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of a saxophone fitted with the gasket of Fig. 1, only those parts of the p aying mechanism being shown as are directly applicable to the valve the section;

Figs. 3-5 inclusive are views similar to Fig. l but showing other forms of gasket;

Figs. 6-8 are sectional perspective views showing alternative methods of securing the gasket to the instrument.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the gasket is a self-contained lamination, the upper and lower laminations l, 2 being of a more material such as sheet metal and being integral with each other and with edge portions i, making a flat box-like section. The intermediate portion. within the box, comprises a thicker layer or body of a resilient materia such as rubber, and ath nner layer or skin 6 of a material such as leather, the rubber and leather being intimately bonded together.

The flat box or casing is formed with through openings defining the tone holes. these being ed ed by t e walls 8 inte ral with the bottom layer 2. and such walls are flanged over at S in the plane of the up er la er 9. The said upper layer has larger openings 5 which leave annu ar spaces around the flanges a. This la er l is s -lit down the centre. the two lon itudi a1 hal es being continuations of the res ective edge port ons and having been pressed down over the inner parts 6 after their insertion between the ct The de ree of com ression is suc that the layers e protrude throu h the sa d annular spaces and provide u standing resilient valve seats as shown. The tone holes will of course be of different sives for the diffe ent not s.

The composite gasket may be attached to the instrument in any convenient manner. There may be interfitting or interlocking parts on the gasket and instrument body. and suitab e securing means adopted, clamping screws, spri cl. s, or more f icti .nal osuauv. inithecase a sane ho ne'or the like, the gasket will be of tapering width to suit the var ing diameter of the body of the instrument. The ri d out-creasing l l, forms a support for. the resilient material; and holds it against deformation except at the protruding annular parts. The resilient body provides a yielding cushion, adapting itself to the shape and plane of the valve so as to ensure an air-tight closure, whi'st the thin layer prevents escape of air through the pores of the resilient material.

in the modifications of Figs. 37 instead of the upper and lower layers 2 being integral with each other they are separate, and the several laminations are secured together at intervals as by staples or rivets i l. In all the cases shown in those figures, the upper layer l is flanged along both edges so as to cover the edges of the parts is and ii, and as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, described more fully below, those flanges may take part in the attachment of the gasket to the instrument. The uppermost layer has openings to, leaving a portion of the resi ient material exposed at each hole as a seating for the valve. This portion may project slightly above the top layer 5, as seen in Fig. 4, this being brought about by compressing the parts ii and 5 between the layers 5 and 2, or it may lie below the top layer l, as seen in the other figures, or could be flush with the layer 5 In an alternative method of securing the gaskets in position, they may drop into a recess on the top of the instrument and be clamped in place therein by a or cover plate, or they may be held between. the opposite edges of a springy U-sectioned instrument body, the resilience of the body providin he gripping pressure; or they may be screwed d; v to the body of the instrument, screws passing through them, or be otherwise mounted. any such case, the resilient material av be utilised at the outer edges of the gasket for sea ng a joint between the gasket and body. For ex ,mn e in Fig. 7, the edge flanges of the layer i are extended below theresilient material are in urne'd at E5 to form guides for the outwai flanged edge It of the instrument body. Th-v ouier margin of the resilient layer 5 efiects a seal between the gasket and the body. Conveniently the keys and valves are mounted on anert red Securing plate which fits down over the gasket and is used to clamp the gasket in nositio for examp e by screws passing through the securing plate and the gasket into screwed holes in the instrument. 7

The lower layer 2 may extend to the edge of'the tone hole. as in 3 4-, to supnort the resilient material, or may st p short of the tone holes as in the other fi ures, leaving the resilient material, nsu ported. I

In Fi 6 the res lient layer 5 extends down wardly at the ed s o as to lie on the upstanding in reins of t e instrument body. The asket is ad ustable up and do n on those upstanding margins, vary the interior volume of the instrument. Any suitable means may be employed f r 5C: ing the asket in any adj sted Position. This may take the of longitudina ly-slidab e cam st ins alongside the inter-engaging or overla g parts, or may be of other forms.

Referr now to Fig. 8 the tone holes are form d in the portion llof the body of the t. and the gasket is laid'on that part. seating is provided by the layer 5 al -(31E, the contact around each hole being air-tiaht In the case shown, the gasket does not itself include the lower layer 2, the place of that layer being taken by the said flat portion ll.

e gasket and/or the body may be formed ith'indentations or ridges; or both not hown) to serve water guides for deflecting condensate time away from the tone holes.

To re-pad an instrument fitted according to this inventionit is only necessary first to remove tampion plates and gaskets together, then to remove the tampions from the detached parts, and replace old gaskets by fresh gaskets. The tampions are then replaced, from the bottom in the case of inside valves, or simply laid on the top in usual outside valve construction, and they are secured in place on their plates, the reassembled plates and gaskets finally being replaced in the body and secured by screws, rods or other means which at the same time compress the gaskets to make an airtight joint with the body.

In the case of a clarinet or like instrument, it has been customary to leave apertures in the wall of the body which are closed only by the player's fingers acting as valves, no fitted valves being present. The gasket construction of this invention may leave such unfitted ho es with a leather or other resilient upstanding rim, thereby providing more comfortable fingering, and a hole less likely to leak when closed by the finger, than one in a hard material. In cases where it is desired to provide a hard finger seating, with resilience, the gaskets upper lamination is continued to the edge of the tone hole and an eyelet may be affixed around and through the hole.

An instrument provided with a gasket according to the present invention has many advantages over prior types, inasmuch as the interior is left smooth and non-absorbent because of the bard inner lining-whether of metal, plastic or other coated material-and also because the usual interior tone hole irregularities of bore are obviated, the use of the projecting tubular parts for the tone holes being eliminated.

While the preferred form of gasket is fiat, to obtain easier seating of valves, it may of course be formed to a round or other shape.

While describing the present invention mainly as suitable for an instrument according to my said co-pending United States application for patent, No. 763,065, filed July 23, 1947, it may be adapted for combination with the projecting tone holes of the hitherto orthodox constructions, the gasket or gaskets being suitably shaped to sit on the rims of the several tone holes and being held in position in any convenient manner.

What I claim is:

l. A musical instrument of the woodwind and brass families, wherein valves are movable in tone holes provided in the body of the instrument, the said tone holes being formed in a resilient material having an exposed surface immediately at said tone holes to make airtight contact with the valves and supported by a rigid carrier by which it is held against deformation and by which it may be mounted on the instrument.

2. A musical instrument according to claim 1 wherein the valves are formed so as slightly to enter the tone hole apertures and bear on the edges thereof.

3. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein there are separate pieces of the resilient material for separate groups of tone holes.

4. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the resilient material is a lamination of a thicker layer or body of a resilient substance, and a thinner layer or skin of a more rigid sealing material, such thinner layer projecting into the tone holes to form the wall thereof.

5. A musical instrument of the woodwind or brass families, wherein valves are movable in tone holes provided in the body of the instrument, the said instrument having a slotted body with a gasket over the slot, such gasket comprising an outer rigid layer, an intermediate flexible sealing layer, and a resilient layer, the tone holes being formed in such gasket, and the intermediate layer being exposed around each tone hole to receive the valve.

6. A. musical instrument according to claim 5, having an additional rigid layer to cover the said resilient layer.

7. A musical instrument according to claim 5, wherein the rigid layer also serves to attach the gasket to the instrument.

8. A musical instrument according to claim 5, wherein the resilient material is a rubber material, and the sealing layer is leather or the like intimately bonded thereto.

9. A musical instrument according to claim 5, wherein the gasket comprises a flat box-sectioned metallic outer layer, with tone apertures therethrough, an opening in one wall of such box around each tone aperture but with its edges spaced away therefrom, and a resilient filling in the box and projecting through the slots, such filling having a skin on the face exposed through the slotted wall of the box.

10. A musical instrument according to claim 5, wherein the gasket comprises a resilient layer with apertures therein, a sealing layer on one face thereof and extending through such apertures to define the tone holes, such layer being continued from the tone holes over the opposite face of the resilient layer, an apertured metallic layer against such opposite face, extending to the edges of the tone holes, and an apertured metallic layer against the sealing layer with the edges of its apertures spaced away from the tone holes, all the layers being connected together as a composite self-contained unit.

11. A musical instrument according to claim 10, wherein one of the metallic layers is flanged to extend downwardly over the edges of the resilient and sealing layers.

12. A musical instrument according to claim 11, wherein the downwardly-extending flanges serve for connection of the gasket to the instrument.

13. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the resilient material has a sealing layer on opposed portions of its two opposite faces.

14. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the tone hole apertures are formed in a rigid part of the instrument body and the carrier and resilient material are laid and secured thereon.

15. A musical instrument according to claim 14, wherein the carrier and resilient material are held between such apertured part of the instrument and a plate carrying at least part of the action.

16. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the carrier and resilient material are adjustable towards and away from the axis of the body of the instrument to vary the interior volume of the body.

17. A musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein the resilient material is a lamination of a thicker layer or body of a resilient substance, and a thinner layer or skin of a more rigid sealing material, such thinner layer projecting into the tone holes to form the wall thereof, and also extending beyond the tone hole over the other side of the thicker layer.

18. A- musical instrument according to claim 5, wherein an additional rigid layer is provided to cover the said-resilient layer, and wherein one of the rigid layers also serves to attach the gasket to the instrument. Y

19. A musical instrument, according to claim 5, wherein the gasket comprises a fiat box-sectioned metallic outer layer," with tone apertures therethrough, an opening in one Wall of such box around each tone aperture but with its edges spaced away therefrom, and a resilient filling in the box and projecting through the slots; such filling having a skin on the face exposed through the slotted wall of the box.

20. A musical instrument according to claim 15 J AMES' SOIVIERVILLE'.

nnrnnencns CITED The following references are of record in the 10 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name 7 Date Number Sander Dec. 31, 1940 

